Wedging Our Way Through the Holidays - Learning To Ski At Snow Summit

During our Disney Cruise earlier in the year, the kids had so much fun together that The Wife and The Brother-In-Law started contemplating a joint skiing vacation.  Lofty aspirations of Deer Valley, Breckinridge, or Lake Tahoe dissipated until the decision was made to go to Snow Summit, only 2 hrs east of Los Angeles near the city of Big Bear Lake.  Since neither The Boy and The Girl nor their cousins Thing 1, Thing 2, and The Third Wheel had ever skied, it didn't make sense to go to some expensive resort when we would be spending much of the time on the bunny slopes.

The Big Sister made the arrangements.  Although we only had a few months notice, she was able to find a good property on VRBO (vacation rentals by owner). The condo was large enough to fit the nine of us.  The best part is that it is literally walking distance from the entrance of Snow Summitt.  Since we would be going during the peak Holiday season, we didn't want to have to deal with parking issues or waiting for shuttle buses.

Since we didn't have any skiing equipment, we had to start from scratch.  I was appalled at the prices of ski pants on the REI website.  Fortunately, we got some inexpensive, generic ones from Costco. We purchased some Oakley ski goggles (the Asian fit) for less off of EBay.  We also got some used ski bibs for the kids since it may be the only time they would ever use them.  Most importantly, we bought some ski helmets for the them on Amazon.com.  There were some cool-looking ones, but I bought them the plain white ones because they were on sale.  The Wife and I weren't going to wear helmets because style > safety.  Besides, we weren't going to pull a Natasha Richardson.

On Cyber Monday, we capitalized on the 20% discount that Snow Summit offered on tickets and lessons. We enrolled The Boy, The Girl, Thing 1, and Thing 2 in the kids ski school.  They would take the 4-hour "First Time Beginner" lessons on Day 1 and another 4-hour "The Next Steps" lessons on Day 2.  Similarly, since The Wife had never been skiing and I had done it only once 20 years ago, we both enrolled in the "First Time Beginner" lessons for adults.  Both of us and The Big Sister also signed up for the 2 hour "Beyond Beginner" lessons on Day 2.  There weren't really any options for the Third Wheel since he was only three years old.  He would take some expensive private ski lessons.  While everybody was learning to ski, the Brother-In-Law would learn how to fall repetitively on his snowboard.


*****


Wednesday, December 25, 2013

After celebrating Christmas at at the crack of dawn, we raced to the airport for our flight to Los Angeles. We would be spending the day at their house.  She proceeded to bake a turkey using an oven bag.  It's not the way I would do it, but surprisingly it turned out good.

The Boy spent most of the day playing the XBox 360 with Thing 1 and Thing 2.  They are all Minecraft fanatics.  The twins also wanted to play their new Disney Infinity game.  After having dealt with the money pit known as Skylanders, I'm surprised The Big Sister fell for another trap.  Thankfully, The Boy was not enraptured by the game.

While the boys were occupied with video games, The Girl obsessively sang the entire soundtrack to the movie Frozen.  She even memorized all of the gesticulations scene-by-scene.  Disney will eventually brainwash your kids, one way or the other.


*****


Thursday, December 26, 2013

The next morning, The Big Sister and I raided the grocery store as we were not planning to eat out at all once we made it to Big Bear Lake.  We are both methodical and like to plan things ahead.  We pretty much had all the meals and snacks perfectly calculated out to last us the entire trip.  We would wait until we got up the mountain to buy the perishable items such as milk that would spoil on the ride.

We packed up the kids and headed to Big Bear Lake.  The traffic wasn't bad at all until we started going up the mountain.  The road narrowed to one lane.  Fortunately for us, the weather was perfect.  If it had been snowy or icy, we would have had to learn how to put snow chains on the tires.

The condominium was just as advertised.  It was literally a two minutes walk (five if you are wearing ski boots and carrying equipment for several children) to the entrance of Snow Summit.  After settling in, we went ahead and rented our skis, poles, and boots in advance.  That way we wouldn't have to wake up so early the next morning and fight the crowds to get the rentals.

I went ahead and made a big pot of spaghetti and meatballs for dinner that night.  I also prepared some tomato soup for the following day.  We were so close to the park's entrance that we could easily walk back for lunch.

The Wife and The-Brother-In-Law went out for a quick run to the grocery store to pick up some milk.  More than an hour later, they returned instead with a car full of junk food including more boxes of cereal, 3 loaves of artisan breads, several bags of chips, 4 containers of ice cream ("It was on sale!" exclaimed The Wife), and an additional 4 bottles of diet coke.  So much for all of the planning.

The kids turned in that night, excited to be skiing for their first time.


*****


Friday, December 27, 2013

After a quick breakfast, it took forever to get every kid dressed in their ski clothes and snow boots.  It took even longer to figure out which skis belonged to what person.  The Big Sister stayed behind with the Third Wheel as they would not be hitting the slopes that day.  We finally made it to Snow Summit and dropped the older kids off at their respective ski schools.

We were all eager to learn how to fall down.

The Wife and I checked in at our class.  When they say beginner, they really mean beginner.  We were taught the basics such as how to put the skis on while on an incline, how to walk uphill with skis, how to stand while skiing, and how to "wedge" the skis to slow down.  I knew all of this from 20 years ago so it was somewhat painful for me.  However, for The Wife it was a true education.

We had worn several layers expecting to be cold on the ski slope.  However, the weather was a warm 40-50 degrees Fahrenheit.

I ended up ditching the ski jacket and sweater.
I was plenty warm with just a long-sleeve T-shirt.

After wedging on the bunny slope for about two hours, our class was over.  We picked the kids up from their schools and went back to the condo for lunch.  We had the tomato soup with some grilled cheese sandwiches.  Even the finicky kids enjoyed them.

That afternoon, the kids, The Wife and I spent two more hours finishing up our lessons for the day. We occasionally saw The Boy and his cousins effortlessly sliding down the slopes behind their instructors.

The Boy waits in line with his class for the ski lift.

Despite my assurances that snow is soft, The Wife was still very scared about falling so she was always the slowest person in our class.  We did catch some glimpses of Brother-In-Law on his snowboard.  I think he spent more time on his behind, then on the board.

That night The Big Sister made some curried salmon croquettes for dinner.  Despite her non-penchant for all things culinary, the food was very good.  All the adults and males in the house were really starting to get annoyed by The Girls incessant singing of the Frozen soundtrack.


*****

Saturday, December 28, 2013

After breakfast that morning, we dropped the kids back off at their ski schools.  The Wife, The Big Sister, and I checked in for the "Beyond Beginner" class.  They first had us ski down the slope and come to a stop to check our progression.  The Big Sister and I were put into the more advanced skiers.  The Wife was stuck with the folks who have no sense of balance.  They taught us some slightly more advanced methods of turning and stopping, but for the most part, we just practiced skiing down the bunny slope.  The advantage of this lesson was that we could skip the long queues for the bunny slope lift.  The classes have their own separate line.

The Third Wheel took his private lessons and did really well.  We didn't see him fall down during those two hours.  The ski instructors seemed well-versed in working with kids of all ages.

After breaking for a lunch of split pea soup back at the condo, we dropped the kids back off at their respective ski schools.  The Wife volunteered to watch The Third Wheel that afternoon.  The Big Sister, The Brother-In-Law, and I took the All Mountain Express Lift up to the top of the mountain.  It was much colder up their compared to the bunny slope.  I was regretting only wearing a long-sleeved shirt.

We went down the Summit Run twice.  It's a green, but it is complicated by the fact that it is crowded with novices like myself.  There are more obstacles to dodge including people who keep wiping out.  I did want to go fast and ended up falling twice, both at the same spots.  I really regretted not wearing my ski jacket then.  The Big Sister had no problems as she is quite methodical at skiing under control down the slopes.  The Brother-In-Law?  Let's say he was still trying to get accustomed to the snowboard.  By the second time down the run, he was too tired and sore to go again.

We picked the kids up from the last of their ski lessons.  I made beef stew for dinner that night.  While I cooked, I occasionally heard Thing 2 unconsciously humming the song "Let It Go" from the movie Frozen.

Before going to bed, we re-watched some Disney movies that we had on DVD.

*****

Sunday, December 29, 2013

This would be our last day on the ski slopes.  The Big Sister was going to stay behind with The Third Wheel.  The Wife and The Girl preferred to continue practicing on the bunny slopes.  The Brother-In-Law and I would end up taking The Boy, Thing 1, and Thing 2 down the Summit Run.  This time around, I was smart enough to wear my ski jacket.

Unlike the bunny slope lifts, the All Mountain Express Lifts are very efficient and not very crowded.  There is very little waiting in line.  All of the boys were fearless going down the ski slopes.

You are supposed to celebrate AFTER you make it down the ski run.

Green benches at the summit provided a respite
for The Brother-In-Law from falling down.

The Boy found the green routes to be very easy.

He was anxious to try some of the harder routes.

The Boy and Thing 2 were so light that they just easily glided along the snow.  They could simply just wedge down the steeper inclines.  That was not the case for Thing 1, The Brother-In-Law, and myself.  Since we were heavier with a higher center of balance, we had to watch our speed much closer as it was harder for us to slow down.

We went down that green route several times until Thing 1 and 2 were tired and wanted to go back to the condo.  I took The Boy one last time, but we decided to go down the blue trail instead.  It was a lot of fun and scarier for me.  The Boy made it seem effortless until he wiped out in the middle of the steepest slope at the end.  Since I was already below him, it was going to be a pain to walk back up to help him.  Luckily, some nice skier coming down stopped and helped him back on his skis.  We finished the slope and that ended our skiing for the trip.

We found The Girl and The Wife still on the bunny slope.

The Girl had no qualms about skiing fast.

They had had their fill of long waits on the bunny lift.

The Wife still kept wedging all the way down.

The Boy learned how to use poles to pull himself around.  The Girl just relied on gravity.

We returned all of our gear back to the rental area and had pasta for dinner that night.  It was amusing to see the boys looking over The Girl's shoulder as she watched clips of Frozen on YouTube.


*****


Monday, December 30, 2013

After breakfast, we packed up our gear and checked out of the condo.  We drove the 2 hours back to Los Angeles.  For lunch we got some takeout at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant.  We also stopped by the 99 Ranch Market for some ethnic groceries for dinner.  It was good to see that the Asian grocery stores back home have almost caught up with the standards set by Southern California.

The Big Sister and The Wife went to the fancy mall to do shop for some overpriced clothes that we can't get back at home. Sheer boredom.

That night, The Big Sister whipped up some dinner from a Vietnamese cookbook.  I have been pleasantly surprised that she does know how to cook, albeit know quite like The Mother yet.  The kids watched the second of the Percy Jackson movies that they had on DVD.  I'm pretty sure that if Frozen had already been released on disc, they would have opted for it.


*****


Sunday, December 31, 2013

The next morning, we caught a very early flight back home.  The Kids and I really enjoyed our time skiing.  With a little more practice, I think we would be ready to tackle some of the harder slopes.  The Wife, on the other hand, just wasn't into the speed thing.  I think it took her another week of being home, before she stopped trying to wedge whenever she walked around.